Military junta forces villagers to march, or else

[eppur_se_muova]

Source: BBC

From Tess Eastment
CNN

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Hundreds of villagers living on the outskirts of Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon, marched in support of the country's military junta Saturday after being threatened with steep fines if they did not, a political activist leader hiding in Yangon told CNN by phone.

Nilar Thein -- a key leader in the Myanmar-based group '88 Generation -- said residents of Shwe Pyi Thar village carried pro-regime placards after junta officials on Friday demanded at least one person from each household march in the government's rally. Junta officials also approached local factories and demanded they provide 50 workers.

According to the report, which CNN cannot independently verify, those who refused to march would be forced to pay steep fines.

The march comes on the heels of a massive government crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy marches led by widely respected Buddhist monks, which ballooned into mass demonstrations in late September. The monks took to the streets in August to protest the increase in fuel prices. Members of the '88 Generation group were involved in the marches.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/13/myanmar/index.html

[Doctor Cynic]

1. Wow.

I wonder whether they deliberately made it seem like they didn't want to rally...like not chanting loudly, holding placards low, deliberately having a lack of enthusiasm, etc.

[robinlynne]

2. That is disgusting.

[Joanne98]

3. Sounds like one of our "tough love" camps for teenagers!

They must have stolen our idea!